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LIBRARY 


University  of  California. 

Class 


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^^      \ 


IN  MEMORIAM 

SAMUEL  SPENCER 


EXERCISES  AT  THE  UNVEILING  OF  THE  MONUMENT 
ERECTED  BY  THE  EMPLOYEES  OF  THE  SOUTHERN 
RAILWAY  COMPANY  " 


ATLANTA,  GEORGIA 
MAY  TWENTY-FIRST,  NINETEEN  HUNDRED  AND  TEN 


NOV    3    Ibil 
GIFT 


A  GEORGIAN, 

A  CONFEDERATE  SOLDIER, 

THE  FIRST  PRESIDENT  OF  THE 

SOUTHERN  RAILWAY  COMPANY. 
ERECTED  BY  THE  EMPLOYEES 

OF  THAT  COMPANY. 

—  From  Inscription  on  Monument. 


223771 


SAMUEL  SPENCER. 


Samuel  Spencer  was  born  March  2,  1847,  at 
Columbus,  Georgia,  and  died  November  29,  1906,  at 
Lawyer's,  Virginia. 

He  was  the  only  child  of  Lambert  and  Vernona 
(Mitchell)  Spencer.  His  father  was  the  son  of  Lam- 
bert Wickes  and  Anna  Spencer.  His  mother  was  the 
daughter  of  Isaac  and  Parizade  Mitchell.  Lambert 
Wickes  Spencer  was  a  son  of  Richard  Spencer,  who 
was  a  grandson  of  James  Spencer,  who  emigrated  from 
England  in  1670,  and  settled  in  Talbot  County,  Mary- 
land, and  of  Martha  Wickes,  sister  of  Captain  Lam- 
bert Wickes  of  the  United  States  Navy. 

After  attending  the  common  schools  of  Colum- 
bus until  he  was  fifteen  years  old  Samuel  Spencer 
entered  the  Georgia  Military  Institute  at  Marietta.  The 
following  year,  though  but  sixteen  years  of  age,  he  en- 
listed in  the  Confederate  service  as  a  private  in  the 
"  Nelson  Rangers,"  an  independent  company  of  cav- 
alry. His  first  service  with  this  command  was  scout 
and  outpost  duty  before  Vicksburg.  He  subsequently 
served  under  General  N.  B.  Forrest,  the  famous  cav- 
alry commander.  He  served  with  General  Hood  in 
Atlanta,  and  during  the  campaign  against  Nashville, 

[5] 


IN  MEMORIAM 
SAMUEL  SPENCER 


and  remained  in  the  service  until  the  surrender  of 
General  Johnston's  army  in  April,  1865. 

As  soon  as  the  war  was  over  he  again  took  up 
his  studies,  and,  entering  the  junior  class  in  the  Univer- 
sity of  Georgia,  he  graduated  from  that  institution  in 
1867  with  first  honors.  In  the  autumn  of  that  year 
he  entered  the  University  of  Virginia,  where  he  took 
a  course  in  Civil  Engineering,  and  graduated  in  1869 
with  the  degree  of  C.  E.,  again  at  the  head  of  his 
class. 

Mr.  Spencer  began  his  railway  career  with  the 
Savannah  &  Memphis  Railroad  Company,  serving 
successively  as  rodman,  leveler,  transitman,  resident 
engineer,  and  principal  engineer,  until  July,  1872, 
when  he  became  clerk  to  the  Superintendent  of  the 
New  Jersey  Southern  Railroad  at  Long  Branch.  In 
December,  1872,  he  went  into  the  transportation 
department  of  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  Railroad,  with 
which  Company  he  remained  for  four  years  in  charge 
of  one  of  its  divisions. 

For  a  short  time  in  1877,  he  was  Superintendent 
of  the  Virginia  Midland  Railroad,  and  in  January, 
1878,  he  became  General  Superintendent  of  the  Long 
Island  Railroad.  In  1879  he  returned  to  the  Balti- 
more &  Ohio  as  Assistant  to  the  President,  from  which 
post  he  was  advanced  to  the  offices  of  Third  Vice- 
President  in   1881 ;  Second  Vice-President  in  1882, 

[6] 


IN  MEMORIAM 
SAMUKL   SPENCKR 


and  First  Vice-President  in  1884.  In  December, 
1887,  he  was  elected  President  of  the  Baltimore  & 
Ohio,  and  piloted  that  Company  successfully  through 
one  of  the  most  trying  and  difficult  periods  in  its 
history. 

In  March,  1889,  he  entered  the  banking  house 
of  Drexel,  Morgan  &  Company  (now  J.  P.  Morgan  & 
Company,)  as  railroad  expert  and  representative  of 
their  large  railroad  interests. 

In  July,  1893,  Mr.  Spencer  was  appointed  re- 
ceiver of  the  Richmond  &  Danville  Railroad  Company, 
and  of  the  East  Tennessee,  Virginia  &  Georgia  Rail- 
way Company,  and  in  June,  1894,  when  the  Southern 
Railway  Company  was  organized  to  take  over  the 
properties  of  the  old  Richmond  Terminal  and  East 
Tennessee,  Virginia  &  Georgia  System,  he  was  made 
its  President  and  served  as  such  until  his  death.  The 
Southern  Railway  System,  under  his  administration, 
was  built  up  from  4,391  miles  to  7,515  miles  of 
directly  operated  lines,  and  controlled  subordinate 
companies,  operated  separately,  with  2,038  miles  of 
line.  At  the  time  of  his  death  Mr.  Spencer  was  at  the 
head  of  an  organization  of  more  than  40,000  men 
in  the  employ  of  the  Southern  Railway  Company  alone. 
He  was  President  of  the  following  railway  companies : 

The  Southern  Railway  Company, 

Mobile  and  Ohio  Railroad  Company, 

[7] 


IN  MEMORIAM 
SAMUEL  SPENCER 


Alabama  Great  Southern  Railroad  Company, 
Cincinnati,  New  Orleans  and  Texas  Pacific  Rail- 
way Company, 

Georgia  Southern  and  Florida  Railway  Company, 
Northern  Alabama  Railway  Company. 
At  that  time  he  was,  in  addition  to  the  above,  a 
member  of  the  Boards  of  Directors  of  the  following 
companies : 

Alabama  Great  Southern  Railway  Company  (Lim- 
ited) England, 

Central  of  Georgia  Railway  Company, 
Chicago,  Milwaukee  and    Saint    Paul    Railway 
Company, 

Erie  Railroad  Company, 
Old  Dominion  Steamship  Company, 
Richmond,  Fredericksburg  and  Potomac  Railroad 
Company, 

The  Standard  Trust  Company,  of  New  York, 
Hanover  National  Bank,  of  New  York, 
The  Trust  Company  of  America,  New  York, 
Western  Union  Telegraph  Company. 
Mr.  Spencer  was  married  on  February  6,  1872, 
to  Louisa  Vivian,  daughter  of  Henry  L.  Benning,  a 
Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Georgia  and  a  Briga- 
dier General  in  the  Confederate  Army,  and  is  survived 
by  his  widow  and  three  children,  Henry  Benning,  Ver- 
nona  Mitchell,  and  Vivian. 

[8] 


IN  MEMORIAM 
SAMUEL   SPENCER 


He  was  a  member  of  the  University  and  Union 
Clubs,  of  New  York ;  the  Tuxedo  Club ;  the  Metro- 
politan Club,  of  Washington ;  the  Jekyl  Island  Club ; 
the  Capital  City  Club,  of  Atlanta ;  the  Queen  City 
Club  of  Cincinnati,  and  the  Chicago  Club.  He  was 
also  a  member  of  the  New  York  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce ;  the  American  Academy  of  Political  Science ; 
the  American  Forestry  Association;  the  Metropoli- 
tan Museum  of  Art ;  the  Municipal  Art  Society  and 
the  American  Museum  of  Natural  History,  of  New 
York ;  the  New  York  Zoological  Society ;  the  Associa- 
tion for  the  Protection  of  the  Adirondacks,  and  the 
American  Society  of  Civil  Engineers. 

Mr.  Spencer  had  rare  capacity  as  an  executive 
officer  and  organizer.  He  was  an  excellent  judge  of 
men,  and,  a  tireless  and  energetic  worker  himself,  he 
had  the  faculty  of  securing  the  efficient  co-operation 
of  his  subordinates.  He  was  a  man  of  the  highest 
integrity  and  was  noted  for  consistent  honesty  of  pur- 
pose and  fair  dealing.  He  was  uniformly  just  and  gen- 
erous in  his  dealings  with  his  subordinates  and  always 
had  their  fullest  confidence  and  their  highest  respect. 
With  his  friends  he  was  jovial  and  companionable  and 
won  their  affection. 

As  a  writer  and  public  speaker  Mr.  Spencer  ranked 
high.  His  addresses  on  public  questions,  and  more 
particularly  on  the  relations  of  the  railways  to  the  pub- 

[9] 


IN  MEMORIAM 
SAMUEL  SPENCER 


lie,  were  admirable  examples  of  clear  thinking  and 
sound  reasoning,  and  stamped  him  as  an  economic 
statesman  of  high  order. 

A  Joint  Meeting  of  the  Voting  Trustees  and  the 
Board  of  Directors  of  the  Southern  Railway  Company 
was  held  at  its  office  in  Washington,  D.  C,  on  Sunday, 
December  2nd,  1906,  immediately  after  the  funeral 
service  of  Samuel  Spencer,  late  President  of  the  Com- 
pany, Alexander  B.  Andrews,  First  Vice-President, 
presiding. 

Upon  motion  of  Mr.  J.  Pierpont  Morgan,  the  fol- 
lowing minute  was  adopted,  and  was  ordered  to  be 
entered  on  the  records  and  published  at  length  in  the 
press  upon  the  lines  of  the  Southern  Railway : 

Samuel  Spencer,  bom  in  Columbus,  Georgia,  March  2nd,  1847,  died 
November  29th,  1906,  near  Lawyer's  Station,  Virginia,  upon  the  railroad  of 
the  Southern  Railway  Company  of  which  he  was  the  first  and  only  President. 

The  personal  qualities  of  Mr.  Spencer,  his  integrity  in  hezirt  and  mind, 
his  affectionate  and  genial  disposition,  his  loyal  and  courageous  spirit,  his 
untiring  devotion  to  duty,  his  persistent  achievement  of  worthy  ends  and  his 
comradeship  on  the  fields  of  battle,  of  affairs,  and  of  manly  sport,  combined 
to  establish  him  in  the  loving  regard  of  hosts  of  friends  in  every  section  of 
his  country,  and  nowhere  more  securely  than  in  the  affection  of  his  fellow 
workers  in  the  service  of  the  Southern  Railway  Company. 

The  importance  of  his  service  to  this  Company  is  matter  of  common 
knowledge  throughout  the  railroad  world,  but  the  character,  the  extent,  and 
the  consequence  of  that  service  are  and  can  be  appreciated  at  their  full 
worth  only  by  his  associates  now  gathered  here  to  attest  their  regard  for  him, 
and  to  record  their  high  estimate  of  his  life  and  work. 

Upon  June  18th,  1894,  on  the  completion  of  the  Richmond  Terminal 
Reorganization  conceived  by  J.  Pierpont  Morgan,  and  conducted  by  his  part- 
ner, Charles  H.  Coster,  the  first  meeting  of  the  Southern  Railway  Company 
was  called  to  order  at  Richmond  by  Samuel  Spencer  as  President. 

[10] 


IN  MF.MORIAM 
SAMUEL   SPENCER 


In  the  first  fiscal  year  the  Southern  Railway  System  embraced  4,391 
miles  of  road,  with  623  locomotives  and  19,694  cars,  which  carried  3,427, 
858  passengers,  and  6,675,750  tons  of  freight  and  earned  $17,114,791. 

In  the  last  fiscal  year  the  Southern  Railway  System  embraced  7,515 
miles  of  road,  with  1,429  locomotives  and  50,119  cars,  which  carried 
11,663,550  passengers,  27,339,377  tons  of  freight  and  earned  $53,641, 
438. 

The  number  of  employees  had  increased  from  16,718,  June  30,  1895, 
to  37.003,  June  30,  1906,  and  the  wages  paid  from  $6,712,796  to 
$21,198,020. 

The  full  details  and  the  impressive  character  of  this  remarkable  advcmce, 
too  extended  for  present  recital,  are  exhibited  in  the  masterly  communication 
which,  upon  February  1st,  1906,  Mr.  Spencer  addressed  to  the  Voting 
Trustees  as  the  basis  of  the  Development  and  General  Mortgage. 

In  this  progress  every  step  had  been  initiated  and  conducted  by  Mr. 
Spencer  with  the  cordial  concurrence  of  the  Voting  Trustees  and  the 
Board  of  Directors ;  and  it  is  significant  of  the  conservative  and  cautious 
disposition  of  Mr.  Spencer  and  his  supporters  that  this  phenominal  enlarge- 
ment of  the  System  and  its  business  was  not  made  the  bcisis  of  any  incre2ise 
of  stock,  or  even  of  any  increase  of  dividends  beyond  the  amount  contemplat- 
ed and  stated  in  the  Plan  of  1893  with  reference  to  the  properties  originally 
reorganized.  Every  dollar  that  could  be  borrowed  under  President  Spen- 
cer's management  was  put  into  the  property  in  the  effort  to  enable  it  to  meet 
the  ever  increasing  demands  of  the  vigorous  and  wonderful  growth  of  the 
South  and  its  industries. 

The  mighty  fabric  which  for  twelve  years  he  has  been  moulding  must 
continue  under  others  to  develop,  and  to  improve  in  the  service  that  it  shall 
render  to  the  public,  but  never  can  it  cease  to  bear  the  impress,  or  to  reveal 
the  continuing  impulse  of  the  master  mind  of  its  first  President.  In  the 
height  of  his  usefulness  and  his  powers  he  has  been  called  away,  but  the 
inspiration  of  his  shining  example  and  his  lofty  standards  must  ever  animate 
his  successors. 

To  many  other  corporations  conducting  the  commerce  of  the  country, 
as  well  as  to  the  Southern  Railway,  did  Mr.  Spencer  render  invaluable  ser- 
vice, and  all  of  them  will  share  in  our  sense  of  loss  and  personal  grief.  As 
their  chosen  spokesman  in  the  tremendous  agitation  culminating  in  the  Con- 
gressional action  of  1906,  his  mastery  of  his  subject,  his  dignity  of  bearing 
and  his  integrity  of  character  commanded  the  confidence  and  approval  of 
the  vast  interests  whose  constitutional  rights  it  became  his  duty  to  assert  and 
to  protect. 

To  the  great  public  not  less  than  to  the  commercial  interests  did  he  rec- 
ognize his  obligation.  How  well  he  conceived,  how  admirably  he  performed 
that  duty,  was  indicated  in  the  last  of  his  public  addresses,  his  last  message 

[11] 


IN  MEMORIAM 
SAMUEL  SPENCER 


to  his  friends  in  the  South,  delivered  at  Montgomery,  Alabama,  on  October 
25th,  1906;  an  address  which  deserves  wide  circulation  and  close  consider- 
ation, not  only  in  his  own  South  that  he  loved  so  well,  but  throughout  the 
whole  country  which  he  had  learned  to  know  far  better  than  most  of  its  citi- 
zens wherever  bom. 

His  chosen  career  has  closed,  but  the  wisdom  and  the  virtues  that  char- 
acterized that  career  will  abide  as  long  as  there  shall  be  a  regard  for  duty 
bravely  done  and  for  high  service  gallantly  rendered. 

To  his  family  we  extend  our  deep  and  most  respectful  sympathy,  and 
our  assurance  that  for  them,  as  well  as  for  his  associates,  honor  <utd  happi- 
ness will  ever  result  from  their  relation  to  Samuel  Spencer,  that  just  and 
upright  man  and  officer. 


[12] 


HOW  THE  MONUMENT  WAS  BUILT. 


The  high  esteem  in  which  Mr.  Spencer  was  held 
by  the  employees  of  the  Southern  Railway  system  was 
evidenced  when,  within  a  few  days  after  his  death, 
suggestions  were  received  by  the  executive  officers  of 
the  Company  from  many  individuals,  that  the  whole 
body  of  employees  be  permitted  to  testify  to  their 
appreciation  of  him  as  a  railway  executive  and  their 
affection  for  him  as  a  man,  by  the  erection  of  a  suita- 
ble and  enduring  memorial. 

This  suggestion  met  with  the  approval  of  the  ex- 
ecutive officers  who  promised  their  aid  and  co-opera- 
tion, with  the  understanding  that  no  employee  was 
to  be  urged  to  contribute,  but  that  the  memorial  was 
to  be  a  voluntary  and  spontaneous  expression  of  the 
regard  in  which  the  contributors  held  their  great  leader. 
The  matter  was  taken  up  enthusiastically  by  the  em- 
ployees of  every  department  on  all  parts  of  the  system. 
Meetings  were  held  and  resolutions  were  adopted. 
After  a  careful  consideration  of  several  propositions 
as  to  the  character  of  the  memorial  to  be  erected  and 

[13] 


IN  MEMORIAM 
SAMUEL  SPENCER 


its  location,  it  was  decided  that  a  statue  of  Mr.  Spen- 
cer would  be  most  appropriate  and  that  the  ideal  loca- 
tion for  it  was  on  the  plaza  in  front  of  the  Terminal 
Station  in  Atlanta.  The  selection  of  Atlanta  wcis 
governed  by  the  fact  that  it  is  the  Capital  of  the 
State  of  Georgia,  in  which  Mr.  Spencer  was  born,  and 
a  central  and  important  city  on  the  Southern  Railway 
system. 

In  order  to  systematize  the  movement,  a  General 
Committee  of  employees  was  appointed,  under  the 
Chairmanship  of  Mr.  J.  W.  Connelly,  Chief  Special 
Agent,  and  embracing  the  following  representatives 
of  every  branch  of  the  service : 

STATION  AGENTS. 
G.  A.  Barnes,  Chattanooga,  Tenn.         C.  L.  Candler,  Norfolk,  Va. 
D.  L.  Bryan,  Columbia,  S.  C.  T.  L.  Hill,  Birmingham,  Ala. 

E.  H.  Lea,  Richmond,  Va. 

FREIGHT  CLAIM  DEPARTMENT. 
J.  J.  Hooper,  Washington,  D.  C. 

FREIGHT  TRAFFIC  DEPARTMENT. 
F.  H.  Behring,  Louisville,  Ky.  Randall  Clifton,  Atlanta,  Ga. 

L.  L.  McClesky,  Atlanta,  Ga. 

PASSENGER  TRAFFIC  DEPARTMENT. 
George  B.  Allen,  Atlanta,  Ga.  L.  S.  Brown,  Washington,  D,  C. 

J.  C.  Beam,  St.  Louis,  Mo.  J.  L.  Meeks,  Atlanta.  Ga. 

LAW  AGENTS'  DEPARTMENT. 
W.  F.  Combs,  Macon,  Ga.  M.  H.  Dooley,  Washington,  D.  C. 

SPECIAL  AGENTS'  DEPARTMENT. 
J.  W.  Connelly,  Washington,  D.  D.        P.  G.  Cropper,  Louisville,  Ky. 

RIGHT  OF  WAY  DEPARTMENT. 
C.  J.  Shelverton,  Austell,  Ga. 

[14] 


IN  MEMORIAM 
SAMUEL  SPENCER 


TIE  AND  TIMBER  DEPARTMENT. 
C.  A.  Slater.  Washington,  D.  C. 

DINING  CAR  CONDUCTORS 
G.  L.  Best,  Charlotte,  N.  C. 

TELEGRAPH  OPERATORS. 
O.  R.  Doyle,  Calhoun,  S.  C.  A.  L.  McDaniel,  Forest  City,  S.  C. 

C.  G.  VVhitworth,  Bon  Air,  Va. 

TRAIN  CONDUCTORS. 
C.  T.  Laughlin,  Princeton,  Ind.  R.  W.  Moore,  Washington,  D.  C. 

TRAINMEN. 
M.  V.  Hamilton,  Knoxville.  Tenn. 

ENGINEERS. 
J.  I.  Whiddon,  Macon,  Ga. 

FIREMEN. 
C.  A.  Loftin,  Atlanta,  Ga. 

ROADWAY  DEPARTMENT. 
H.  D.  Knight,  Greensboro,  N.  C.  C.  J.  Murphy,  Louisville,  Ky. 

A.  P.  New,  Birmingham,  Ala. 

CIVIL  ENGINEERING  DEPARTMENT. 
Thomas  Bernard,  Greensboro,  N.  C.      W.  B.  Crenshaw,  Knoxville,  Tenn. 

BRIDGE  AND  BUILDING  DEPARTMENT. 

Bernard  Herman,  Washington,  D.  C. 

MACHINISTS. 
A.  McGillivray,  Birmingham,  Ala. 

BLACKSMITHS. 

A.  Gledhill,  Birmingham,  Ala.  George  E.  Saywell,  Sheffield,  Ala. 

BOILERMAKERS. 

T.  J.  Garvey,  Manchester,  Va.  M.  W.  Harris,  Birmingham,  Ala. 

CAR  REPAIRERS. 
Frank  A.  Jones,  Richmond,  Va.  S.  L.  Shaver,  Atlanta,  Ga. 

E.  S.  Smith,  Princeton,  Ind. 

COPPERSMITHS  AND  PIPEFITTERS. 
W.  L.  Allen,  Birmingham,  Ala.  W.  F.  Bronson,  Atlanta,  Ga. 

[15] 


IN  MEMORIAM 
SAMUEL  SPENCER 


STOREKEEPERS. 
W.  M.  Netherland,  Washington,  D.  C. 

LAND  AND  INDUSTRIAL  DEPARTMENT. 
H.  E.  Waernicke,  Washington,  D.  C. 

AUDITING  DEPARTMENT. 
F.  B.  Clements,  Washington,  D.  C.  T.  L.  Shelton,  Washington,  D.  C. 

LAW  DEPARTMENT. 

Daniel  Kelly,  Washington,  D.  C. 

SURGEONS. 

Dr.  W.  A.  Applegate,  Washington,  D.  C. 

PURCHASING  DEPARTMENT. 
Joseph  Angel,  Washington,  D.  C.  J.  A.  Turner,  Washington,  D.  C. 

GENERAL  YARD  MASTERS. 
R.  L.  Avery,  Spencer,  N.  C.  J.  A.  McDougle,  Birmingham,  Ala. 

W.  W.  Barber,  Columbia,  S.  C.  J.  J.  Patton,  Knoxville,  Tenn. 

J.  Fritz,  E.  St.  Louis,  111.  W.  W.  Waits,  Atlanta,  Ga. 

GENERAL  OFFICES. 
E.  D.  Duncan,  Atlanta,  Ga.  Guy  E.  Mauldin,  Washington,  D.  C^ 

J.  L.  Edwards,  Birmingham,  Ala.  L.  C.  Ullrich,  Washington,  D.  C. 

This  Committee  formulated  a  plan  by  which  each 
employee,  from  the  President  down,  was  afforded  an 
opportunity  to  contribute  in  proportion  to  his  rate  of 
compensation  from  the  Company.  Many  employees 
were  anxious  to  contribute  much  larger  amounts,  but 
they  were  not  permitted  to  do  so,  it  having  been  found 
that,  by  reason  of  the  large  number  of  contributors,  a 
sufficient  fund  would  be  provided  by  strict  adherence 
to  the  plan  adopted  and  it  being  desired  that  among 
all  the  thousands  of  subscribers  each  should  feel  that, 
in  proportion  to  his  earnings,  he  had  contributed  as 
much  to  the  erection  of  the  monument  as  any  other.. 

[16] 


IN  MEMORIAM 
SAMUEL   SPENCER 


Each  employee  who  wished  to  contribute  sent  an 
order  on  the  Paymaster  requesting  him  to  deduct  from 
his  pay  the  amount  he  was  entitled  to  give  under  the 
plan  adopted.  All  moneys  were  paid  to  Mr.  H.  C. 
Ansley,  Treasurer  of  the  Southern  Railway  Company, 
who,  at  the  request  of  the  employees,  consented  to  act 
as  Treasurer  of  the  fund.  The  names  of  all  contrib- 
utors were  listed  for  a  permanent  record ;  two  copies 
of  this  record  being  made,  one  being  given  to  Mr. 
Spencer's  family  and  the  other  filed  in  the  office  of 
the  Chairman  of  the  General  Committee.  When  the 
base  of  the  monument  was  being  built  the  thousands 
of  slips  bearing  the  original  signatures  of  the  em- 
ployees were  securely  sealed  in  a  metal  box  and  placed 
in  the  corner  stone. 

After  the  fund  had  been  collected,  Mr.  Daniel 
Chester  French,  of  New  York,  was  commissioned  to 
execute  the  bronze  statue  of  Mr.  Spencer,  and  Mr. 
Henry  Bacon  was  employed  to  design  its  pedestal. 
The  beautiful  monument  as  it  stands  today  bears  tes- 
timony to  the  wisdom  of  the  selection  of  these  men 
as  sculptor  and  architect. 

The  monument  having  been  completed  and  placed 
in  position,  arrangements  were  made  for  unveiling  it 
on  May  21,  1910.  Invitations  in  the  following  form 
were  sent  to  railway  officers  and  other  prominent  citi- 
zens of  the  United  States  : 

[17] 


IN  MEMORIAM 
SAMUEL  SPENCER 


The  Employees  of  the  Southern  Railway  Company 

request  the  honor  of  your  presence 

at  the  Unveiling  of  the 

Monument  to  Samuel  Spencer 

First  President  of  the  Company 

at  the  Terminal  Station 

Atlanta,  Georgia 

Saturday  afternoon,  May  twenty-first 

nineteen  hundred  and  ten 

at  two  o'clock. 


[18] 


UNVEILING  THE  MONUMENT. 


At  the  hour  fixed  for  the  unveiling  there  was  a 
large  and  distinguished  gathering  of  invited  guests,  and 
several  thousand  employees  of  the  Company  were 
present  as  hosts.  The  programme  of  the  unveiling 
exercises  was  as  follows: 

MUSIC. 
Introduction  of  the  Presiding  Officer  Mr.  J.  S.  B.  Thompson, 
By  Mr.  J.  W.  Connelly, 

Chairman  of  the  General  Committee. 

PRAYER. 

Rt.  Rev.  Cleland  Kinlock  Nelson, 

Bishop  of  Atlanta. 

Address  on  the  Life  and  Character  of  Samuel  Spencer, 
Hon.  Alexander  P.  Humphrey. 

Unveiling  of  the  Monument, 

Miss  Violet  Spencer. 

MUSIC. 

Presentation  of  Monument  on  Behalf  of  the  Employees, 

To  the  State  of  Georgia  and  City  of  Atlanta. 

Mr.  W.  W.  Finley. 

Acceptance  for  the  State  of  Georgia, 

Hon.  Joseph  M.  Brown, 

Governor. 

Acceptance  for  City  of  Atlanta, 

Hon.  Robert  F.  Maddox, 

Mayor. 

BENEDICTION. 

Rev.  John  E.  White,  D.  D., 

Pastor  Second  Baptist  Church,  Atlanta. 

MUSIC. 

[19] 


IN  MEMORIAM 
SAMUEL  SPENCER 


Just  before  the  exercises  began,  one  hundred  little 
girls,  daughters  of  employees  of  the  Southern  Railway 
Company,  led  by  Mrs.  E.  E.  Norris,  wife  of  Superin- 
tendent Norris,  of  the  Atlanta  Division,  carrying  arm- 
fulls  of  cut  flowers  and  wreaths,  marched  across  the 
plaza  and  deposited  the  flowers  at  the  base  of  the 
monument. 

The  assembly  was  called  to  order  by  Mr.  J.  W. 
Connelly,  Chief  Special  Agent  of  the  Southern  Rail- 
way Company,  as  Chairman  of  the  General  Commit- 
tee, who,  introducing  Mr.  J.  S.  B.  Thompson,  Assistant 
to  the  President  of  the  Southern  Railway  Company, 
as  the  presiding  officer,  spoke  as  follows : 

**  Ladies  and  Gentlemen :  We  have  met  here  to- 
day to  do  honor  to  the  memory  of  our  beloved  First 
President,  Samuel  Spencer. 

''It  would  be  impossible  to  say  who  first  sug- 
gested the  erection  of  this  monument.  Within  a  few 
days  after  the  death  of  Mr.  Spencer,  suggestions  for 
the  erection  of  a  suitable  memorial  were  received  by 
the  management  from  individual  employees.  The  idea 
spread  spontaneously.  It  was  taken  up  in  meetings 
of  employees  and  resolutions  were  adopted.  The  man- 
agement gave  the  movement  its  hearty  approval  on 
condition  that  contributions  should  be  made  freely  and 
voluntarily.  The  movement  took  shape  in  the  organ- 
ization of  a  General  Committee  of  Employees  of  which 

[20] 


IN  MEMORIAM 
SAMUKL  SPENCER 


I  have  had  the  honor  of  serving  as  Chairman.  From 
the  start  its  success  was  assured.  A  plan  was  devised 
which  gave  every  employee  from  President  down  an 
opportunity  to  contribute  in  proportion  to  his  wages. 
That  this  method  of  collecting  the  funds  was  a  proper 
one  is  evidenced  by  the  thousands  of  slips  bearing  the 
signatures  of  employees  which  were  received  and 
which  have  been  sealed  in  a  metal  box  and  placed  in 
the  corner  stone  of  the  monument.  The  necessary 
funds  having  been  raised,  and  the  movement  having 
been  carried  to  a  successful  conclusion,  I  wish  to  thank 
all  of  my  fellow  employees,  and  especially  those  who 
served  with  me  on  the  General  Committee,  for  their 
support  and  co-operation. 

''  We  have  erected  a  monument  that  is  a  fitting 
testimonial  of  the  high  regard  in  which  our  First  Presi- 
dent was  held  by  the  entire  body  of  employees.  Our 
task  is  done,  and  I  now  have  the  pleasure  of  present- 
ing to  you,  as  the  presiding  officer  on  this  occasion, 
one  who  needs  no  introduction  to  a  Georgia  audience, 
Mr.  J.  S.  B.  Thompson." 

Rt.  Rev.  Cleland  Kinloch  Nelson,  D.  D.,  Bishop 
of  Atlanta,  offered  the  following  prayer : 

"  Almighty  God,  Father  of  all  mercies,  we,  Thine 
unworthy  servants,  do  give  Thee  most  humble  and 
hearty  thanks  for  all  Thy  goodness  and  loving  kindness 
to  us,  and  to  all  men ;  we  bless  Thee  for  our  creation, 

[21] 


IN  MEMORIAM 
SAMUEL  SPENCER 


preservation,  and  all  the  blessings  of  this  life;  but 
above  all,  for  Thine  inestimable  love  in  the  redemp- 
tion of  the  world  by  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  for  the 
means  of  grace  and  for  the  hope  of  glory,  the  benefit 
of  mankind  and  the  peace  of  the  world.  We  humbly 
beseech  Thee  to  guard  and  protect  this  nation.  Grant 
to  our  rulers  righteousness  and  true  holiness.  To  our 
judges  wisdom,  justice  and  truth.  To  men  in  every 
department  of  life  honour,  probity,  virtue  and  rever- 
ence. Root  out  all  vices  and  wickedness  from  among 
us  and  grant  us  consideration  one  of  another,  with  fer- 
vent charity  among  ourselves.  And,  we  beseech  Thee, 
give  us  that  due  sense  of  all  Thy  mercies,  that  our 
hearts  may  be  unfeignedly  thankful ;  and  that  we  show 
forth  Thy  praise,  not  only  with  our  lips,  but  in  our  lives, 
by  giving  up  ourselves  to  Thy  service,  and  by  walking 
before  Thee  in  holiness  and  righteousness  all  our  days ; 
through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,  to  whom,  with  Thee 
and  the  Holy  Ghost,  be  all  honour  and  glory,  world 
without  end.    Amen." 

Hon.  Alexander  P.  Humphrey,  General  Counsel 
of  the  Southern  Railway  Company  at  Louisville,  Ky., 
a  friend  from  boyhood  of  Mr.  Spencer,  delivered  the 
principal  address  of  the  day  on  "  The  Life  and  Char- 
acter of  Samuel  Spencer,"  speaking  as  follows: 
Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen  : 
On  every  such  occasion  as  this  there  comes  to 

[22] 


IN  MEMORIAM 
SAMUEL   SPKNCER 


me  the  Latin  line,  which  holds  a  note  musical  and 
solemn : 

"  Vita  enim  mortuorum  in  memoria  vivorum  posita." 

It  is  difficult  to  give  an  English  equivalent  com- 
plete at  once  in  voice  and  sense.  It  is  sufficient  to 
express  the  thought.  In  the  memory  of  the  living  is 
the  life  of  the  dead,  not  all  of  it,  we  trust,  but  much  of 
it.  Let  us  think  of  the  converse.  The  life  of  the  liv- 
ing is  in  the  memory  of  the  dead.  There  is  no  one 
of  us  to  whom  this  does  not  apply.  As  we  pass  the 
half-way  line  of  life  given  by  nature  and  measured  by 
the  Psalmist,  year  by  year,  with  increasing  volume, 
our  life  seems  filled  with  the  memory  of  the  dead. 
It  could  not  be  otherwise.  It  is  well  that  it  is  so.  It  is 
a  primal  source  of  inspiration.  Themistocles,  upon 
thinking  on  the  deeds  of  his  ancestors,  could  not  sleep. 
The  touch  of  the  vanished  hand  still  leads  us ;  the 
voice  may  be  still  to  sense  but  it  guides  our  life. 

More  than  forty  years  ago  I  was  a  fellow-student 
with  Samuel  Spencer  at  the  University  of  Virginia. 
The  Civil  War  had  closed  only  two  years.  One-half 
of  the  students  had  been  soldiers  in  the  Confederate 
Army,  a  preparatory  school  quite  out  of  the  ordinary, 
but  one  which  taught  many  things  well  worth  knowing 
and  useful  in  the  conflicts  of  life.  While  he  was  a 
student  of  one  professional  school  and  I  of  another,  yet 
circumstances  threw  us  together,  and  impressionable 

[23] 


IN  MEMORIAM 
SAMUEL  SPENCER 


youth  easily  took  the  mould  of  boyhood  friendship. 
As  many  miles  separated  our  homes  and  diverse  pur- 
suits our  lives,  we  did  not  again  come  in  dose  relations 
until  1894.  From  that  time  until  his  death  there  ex- 
isted an  intimate  friendship.  In  my  memory  of  the 
dead,  then,  I  have  youth  and  hope  as  well  cis  mature 
life  and  famous  achievement.  From  this  it  follows 
that,  were  the  choice  open,  it  were  much  simpler  for  me 
to  speak  of  him  in  terms  of  affection  than  of  admira- 
tion, and  to  recall  and  dwell  upon  those  things  which 
bound  him  close  to  his  home  and  his  friends,  rather 
than  those  which  enabled  him  to  rank  as  peer  with  the 
great  men  which  the  South  has  given  to  our  common 
country. 

To  borrow  the  thought  and,  in  some  degree,  the 
language  of  Pericles — when  a  man's  deeds  have  been 
great  it  is  enough  for  him  to  be  honored  in  deed  only. 
This  gathering,  this  assembly  of  people — those  who 
have  been  lifted  into  high  office  and  public  gaze,  and 
those  who,  in  the  daily  round  of  toil,  no  less  perform 
the  public  service,  the  statue  here  to  be  unveiled — this 
tells  his  story  in  the  simplest  and  most  effective  way. 
When  there  is  an  attempt  to  add  speech  to  this  we  im- 
peril great  reputation  "  on  the  eloquence  or  want  of 
eloquence  of  another,  and  virtues  are  believed  or  not 
as  such  one  may  speak  well  or  ill.  For  it  is  difficult  to 
say  neither  too  little  nor  too  much.    The  friend  of  the 

[24] 


IN  MEMORIAM 
SAMUEL  SPENCER 


dead  who  knows  the  facts  is  likely  to  think  the  words 
of  the  speaker  fall  short  of  his  knowledge  and  his 
wishes,  and  another  who  is  not  so  well  informed  will 
suspect  exaggeration." 

But,  as  we  are  here  to  accomplish  the  erection  of 
a  monument  which  shall  still  exist  when  all  of  us  shall 
have  ceased  to  be,  custom  requires  that  we  justify  to 
ourselves,  to  the  American  people  and  to  posterity  the 
singling  out  of  this  man  for  so  high  honor. 

It  is  natural,  in  beginning  what  is  to  be  said  of  the 
life  of  Samuel  Spencer,  that  we  should  recall  that  he 
was  born  in  1847  and  died  in  1906.  This  is,  indeed, 
to  say  very  little.  A  famous  writer,  in  describing  a 
visit  to  Westminster  Abbey,  recalled  how  many  tombs 
were  there  upon  which  were  recorded  simply  the  date 
of  the  birth  and  the  death  of  him  who  slept  beneath, 
as  if  there  had  been,  perforce,  nothing  to  record  except 
the  two  circumstances  common  to  all  men.  Such  a 
life,  he  says,  is  aptly  described  in  Holy  Writ  as  the  path 
of  an  arrow  which  quickly  closes  and  is  swallowed  up. 
But  when  we  go  further  and  say  that  he  was  a  Confed- 
erate soldier ;  that  he  was  the  first  President  of  the 
Southern  Railway  Company,  and  that  this  statue  is 
erected  by  his  fellow-employees  you  at  once  see  that 
this  is  an  outline  of  a  life  pregnant  with  interest. 

In  what  has  been  aptly  called  **  Samuel  Spencer's 
Last  Message  to  the  South,"  he  said : 

[25] 


IN  MEMORIAM 
SAMUEL  SPENCER 


"  Born  and  reared  in  the  South  and  identified  by 
my  life's  work  with  Southern  interests,  I  feel  I  have  a 
right  to  speak  to  you  as  one  of  your  own  people." 

He  was  born  in  Georgia ;  he  was  taught  in  her 
schools ;  he  served  in  her  army ;  and  here  he  found 
the  helpmeet  whom  God  had  ordained  for  him,  and 
who  is  present  with  us  to-day  with  their  children  and 
their  children's  children  about  her  knees. 

As  Paul  boasted  that  he  was  a  citizen  of  no  mean 
city,  so  Samuel  Spencer  was  an  imperial  son  of  an  im- 
perial state.  It  is  altogether  meet  that  his  present- 
ment should  be  placed  here  in  this  Capital  City  of  his 
native  state — a  city  once  reduced  by  the  heat  of  con- 
flict literally  to  a  heap  of  ashes.  You  need  only  to 
look  about  to  see  how  like  the  day-star  new  risen  she 
"  flames  in  the  forehead  of  the  morning  sky." 

When  a  mere  stripling  he  dropped  his  books,  put 
on  his  uniform  and  rode  away  to  battle.  How  absurd 
it  is  to  suppose  that  this  multitude  of  gallant  lads  had 
grave  consultation  of  the  right  of  secession,  or  held 
high  debate  as  to  the  correct  interpretation  of  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States,  He  was  a  Georgian  and 
he  saw  her  invaded  by  an  armed  force.  He  was  of  the 
South  and  he  saw  her  resisting  a  fierce  attack.  Some 
there  are  who  suppose  that  the  young  men  of  the 
South  came  from  the  battle-field  and  camp  broken  in 
spirit  and  crushed  under  the  burden  of  defeat.    This 

[26] 


IN  MEMORIAM 
SAMUEL   SPENCER 


is  far  from  the  truth.  Recall  what  was  said  of  an  an- 
cient people  and  see  how  aptly  it  pictures  the  Southern 
soldier  of  which  he  was  the  best  type :  *'  Bold  beyond 
their  strength,  they  run  risks  which  prudence  would  con- 
demn, and  in  the  midst  of  misfortune  are  full  of  hope. 
When  they  fail  in  an  enterprise  they  at  once  conceive 
new  hopes  and  so  fill  up  the  void ;  and  they  deem  the 
quiet  of  inaction  to  be  as  disagreeable  as  the  most  tire- 
some business." 

He  was  eighteen  years  old  when  the  debacle 
came. 

Time  would  fail  if  I  attempted  to  recite  how  he 
prepared  for  his  life  work  and  how  from  stage  to  stage 
he  moved  steadily  forward,  never  hasting,  never  rest- 
ing. From  rodman  to  president  took  many  years, 
much  labor,  infinite  patience.  Every  opportunity 
found  him  ready,  and  every  task  of  increased  import- 
ance found  him  equcd  to  it. 

In  1887  he  was  at  the  head  of  the  Baltimore  & 
Ohio  Company ;  then,  for  a  season,  he  filled  the  place 
of  railroad  expert  in  a  great  banking  house ;  then,  in 
1894,  came  the  final  call.  This  was  to  become  the 
first  President  of  the  Southern  Railway.  It  was  a 
task  no  less  grateful  than  difficult.  The  South  had 
become  like  Samson's  lion.  He  left  it  dead  by  the 
wayside,  but  when  he  came  that  way  again  lo,  a  swarm 
of  bees  had  made  of  its  body  their  hive.     *'  Out  of  the 

[27] 


IN  MEMORIAM 
SAMUEL  SPENCER 


eater  came  forth  meat  and  out  of  the  strong  came 
forth  sweetness." 

With  an  eye  that  could  look  through  the  veil  of 
the  future,  Samuel  Spencer  saw  that  this  was  but  a 
beginning,  and  that  there  was  in  this,  his  native  state, 
and  these  other  states  of  the  South,  a  promise  and  a 
potency  of  industrial  development  undreamed  of  in  the 
olden  days.  The  need  of  the  hour  was  the  creation 
of  a  strong,  compact  and  coherent  system  of  transpor- 
tation which  should  bind  together  every  state  south  of 
the  Potomac  and  the  Ohio,  from  the  Atlantic  Sea- 
board to  the  Mississippi,  in  a  confederacy  of  commerce, 
industry  and  peace.  The  materials  to  his  hand  were 
numerous  short  lines  of  railroad,  bankrupt  in  credit 
and  of  whose  track  and  equipment  it  could  only  be  said 
that  they  were  fitly  mated.  There  were  also  to  be  met 
and  satisfied  the  diverse  claims  of  disappointed  holders 
of  conflicting  securities  and  the  jealous  and  not  always 
reasonable  demands  of  rival  communities.  The  task, 
I  repeat,  was  a  grateful  one  to  him.  It  called  into 
play  every  faculty  of  his  mind  and  character.  Imagin- 
ation, will,  courage,  tact,  justice,  perseverance,  patience. 
What  an  inspiring  thing  it  is  to  see  a  strong  man  put 
forth  his  strength — his  many-sided  strength — of  imagi- 
nation, to  see  in  the  material  the  building ;  of  will,  to 
bend  others  to  it ;  of  courage,  to  be  afraid  of  no  man ; 
of  tact,  to  yield  where  gentleness  demands ;  of  justice, 

[28] 


IN  MEMORIAM 
SAMUEL   SPENCER 


to  regard  the  rights  of  others;  of  perseverance,  to 
push  on  against  every  obstacle ;  of  patience,  to  chal- 
lenge the  verdict  of  time. 

The  twelve  years  that  elapsed  from  1894  to  1906 
were  strenuous  years,  no  one  without  its  peculiar  diffi- 
culty to  be  encountered  or  obstacle  to  be  overcome.  In 
the  accomplishment  of  this  great  work  his  fame  is 
secure.  For  it  is  a  work  that  takes  hold  not  alone 
upon  the  present  day  but  upon  a  future  of  broad  ex- 
panse. It  belongs  to  few  men  to  have  such  an  oppor- 
tunity, and  to  only  a  handful  to  meet  and  fulfill  its  every 
demand. 

There  is  something  more  than  this.  Samuel 
Spencer  was  not  only  a  man  of  thought,  of  imagina- 
tion and  of  action ;  he  was  a  man  of  speech— timely 
and  sympathetic  speech.  Born  in  the  old  order  he 
grew  up  and  was  a  leader  in  the  new.  It  is  only  the 
present  generation  that  has  known  an  industrial  South. 
It  is  the  men  of  his  time  that  have  created  and  fos- 
tered this  change :  an  absolutely  necessary  one  if  the 
South  was  to  continue  to  hold  a  place  of  influence  in 
the  national  life.  So  long  as  there  existed  here  a  dis- 
tinct system  of  labor  there  also  existed  a  distinct  sys- 
tem of  leisure.  I  do  not  mean  by  leisure,  idleness, 
but  freedom  from  toil  and  money-getting. 

In  the  old  days  of  the  South  the  publicist,  the  law- 
yer, the  preacher  and  the  soldier  well-nigh   had  the 

[29] 


IN  MEMORIAM 
SAMUEL  SPENCER 


monopoly  of  admiration,  power  and  influence.  There 
were  few  great  merchants ;  no  great  railroad ;  and  our 
minercil  wealth  was  practically  unknown. 

In  1904  Samuel  Spencer  was  called  upon  to 
speak  to  the  students  of  the  Georgia  School  of  Tech- 
nology. No  one  can  read  this  address  without  seeing 
what  was  his  power  of  sympathetic  speech.  Uncon- 
sciously the  speaker  unfolds  his  own  life.  His  hearers 
could  mark  him  as  one  of  their  own  number,  then  as 
enduring  with  patience  the  time  of  small  things ;  then 
the  slow  promotion  with  no  retrograding  step,  the  sure 
making-ready  for  large  opportunity.  There  is,  in  all  he 
says,  no  depreciation  of  literciry  pursuit  or  culture ;  no 
vaunting  of  the  practical  above  the  spiritual.  After 
stating  what  had  been  the  industrial  progress  of  the 
nation  since  1870,  he  shows  how  much  more  marvel- 
ous in  proportion  had  been  that  of  the  South.  From 
pointing  out  how,  in  one  section,  there  had  been  con- 
stant effort  to  make  ready  for  such  tasks  those  fitted 
for  it,  he  passes  to  the  necessity  of  the  South's  doing 
likewise ;  and  at  the  last  he  strikes  the  highest  note. 

"In  all  your  purposes  and  dealings  be  true. 
There  is  a  truth  in  action ;  a  truth  of  achievement,  a 
truth  of  execution — all  included,  of  course,  in  moral 
truth.  There  is  a  truth  of  accuracy,  of  soundness,  of 
genuineness.  See  that  every  article  you  make  and 
every  action  of  your  lives  are  all  they  purport  to  be. 

[30] 


IN  MEMORIAM 
SAMUEL   SPENCER 


Apply  in  your  individual  lives  the  great  moral  injunc- 
tion which  years  ago  the  then  honored  Chancellor  of 
the  State  University  impressed  upon  his  audience: 
'  Let  truth  be  the  spinal  column  of  your  character,  into 
which  every  rib  is  set  and  on  which  the  brain  itself 
reposes.'  " 

There  belongs  to  every  really  great  man,  whose 
character  is  built  on  sure  foundations,  a  certain  moral 
shyness  which  accompanies  his  every  word  and  work. 
Such  an  one  makes  no  appeal  for  himself,  no  claim  to 
public  gratitude  or  manifestation  of  personal  approval. 
He  thinks  and  works  and  speaks  for  his  cause  alone, 
and  is  content  for  that  to  stand  as  his  interpreter. 
And  at  last  it  is  true  of  every  man  who  has  served  his 
generation,  that  we  must  arise  "  from  the  knowledge 
of  what  he  did  to  the  knowledge  of  what  he  was." 

It  was,  as  I  have  stated,  in  1887  that  Samuel 
Spencer  became  President  of  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio 
Railroad  Company.  Whether  he  took  any  part  in  the 
discussions  which  preceded  the  enactment  that  year 
of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Act  I  do  not  know ;  but, 
when  the  question  was  again  opened  in  1905  and 
1906  and  the  Hepburn  Bill  was  under  consideration, 
he  made  most  notable  contributions  to  the  debate 
which  preceded  its  passage.  There  is  one  thread 
which  runs  through  all  his  argument.  This  is  that  the 
railroads  of  the  country  are  entitled  to  justice.    He 

[31] 


IN  MEMORIAM 
SAMUEL  SPENCER 


did  not  dispute  their  public  character  nor  yet  that 
there  had  been  abuses,  nor  yet  that  the  great  power 
which  attends  strong  organizations  had  been  some- 
times misused.  Against  rebates  and  every  form  of  dis- 
crimination he  set  his  face ;  but,  on  the  other  hand, 
he  pointed  out  the  great  part  which  the  railroads  had 
in  building  up  trade,  and  showed  how  absolutely  essen- 
tial to  the  development  of  the  nation  it  was  to  increase 
their  efficiency  and  their  ability  to  keep  pace  with  the 
country's  growth.  He  showed  that,  exactly  like  other 
business  enterprises,  neither  time  nor  money  would  be 
embarked  except  upon  the  promise  of  adequate  returns. 
In  every  instance  he  asked  his  hearers  to  believe  that 
railroad  men  and  railroad  companies  were  not  things 
apart ;  that  there  was  here  no  more  greed  of  wealth 
and  no  less  integrity  of  management  than  is  common 
to  all  commercial  life.  He  sometimes  seemed  to  fear 
that  his  voice  was  as  one  crying  in  a  wilderness,  but 
for  all  that  he  had  such  strong  faith  in  his  own  truth 
that  he  could  not  believe,  if  the  people  only  under- 
stood, they  would  refuse  justice.  There  was  some- 
thing more  than  this.  What  he  argued  for  with  con- 
stant insistence  was  a  right  understanding  of  the 
relation  which  existed  between  those  who  needed  and 
those  who  furnished  transportation ;  that  it  was  in  no 
way  different  from  the  ordinary  relation  of  buyer  and 
seller,  consumer  and  producer ;  that  beyond  an  assur- 

[32] 


IN  MEMORIAM 
SAMUEL  SPENCER 


ance  of  honest  dealing  and  fair  and  equal  treatment — 
enforced  by  law,  if  need  be — there  was  no  reason  for 
popular  prejudice  or  governmental  interference.  His 
effort  was  to  bring  every  man  to  think  what  would 
be  his  attitude  if,  instead  of  being  engaged  in  some 
other  activity,  he  were  a  railroad  manager  or  a  rail- 
road investor— not  a  selfish  or  grasping  one,  not  a 
rude  or  arrogant  one,  but  one  who  had  conscience 
and  justice  as  his  business  guides.  From  such  a  stand- 
point he  welcomed  discussion,  invited  suggestion  and 
did  not  shrink  from  criticism. 

We  are  always  to  remember  that,  although  Samuel 
Spencer  was  a  leader  and  a  guide  in  the  new  order,  he 
was  born  in  the  old.  No  man  entirely  gets  away  from 
his  ancestors.  So  that  there  was  ever  present  with 
him  a  degree  of  sentiment,  of  emotion,  of  aspiration, 
the  spiritual  unsatisfied  by  the  practical,  which  gave 
character  to  the  old  order.  There  also  belonged  to 
him  a  spirit  of  independence  and  of  individualism 
which  struggled  hard  against  the  contrary  force  so 
marked  in  the  day  of  his  greatest  activity.  Tacitus 
declares  that  an  unhappy  period  in  the  life  of  a  state 
when  there  are  many  laws.  We  may  interpret  this 
that  as  offenses  multiply  so  must  increase  the  "  thou- 
shalt-nots"  of  the  law.  But  this  is  not  the  meaning 
of  Tacitus.  It  is  that  the  state  has  become  prone 
more  and  more  to  interfere  with,  guide,  govern  and 

[  -'^3  ] 


IN  MEMORIAM 
SAMUEL  SPENCER 


prescribe  the  life  and  activities  of  the  individual  man. 
In  the  last  twenty  years  our  transportation  lines  have 
been  especially  selected  for  this  profusion  of  govern- 
ance. Subject  as  they  are  to  a  dual  control,  the 
states  are  exhorted  to  use  their  full  power,  under  the 
threat  that  any  unused  portion  will  be  added  to  and 
employed  by  Federal  enactment.  Against  this  ten- 
dency Samuel  Spencer  put  forth  all  his  opposing 
strength.  He  did  not,  I  repeat,  object  to  any  regula- 
tion which  secured  equality  and  justice;  but  he 
insisted  that  what  the  public  was  entitled  to  have  the 
public  was  bound  to  give ;  and  especially  he  showed 
that,  while  the  older  sections  might  endure  these  at- 
tacks, yet  they  made  absolutely  unsafe  the  struggling 
commercial  life  of  the  new. 

It  is  a  good  thing  to  bear  the  yoke  in  one's  youth, 
and  in  the  time  of  great  things  to  remember  the  day 
of  small  things.  So  Samuel  Spencer  never  forgot 
that  he  too  had  been  at  the  bottom  of  the  ladder ;  and 
he  also  recognized  that  among  other  changes  in  the 
world  of  industry  there  has  come  a  marked  change  in 
the  relation  of  employer  and  employed.  Especially  is 
this  true  in  the  case  of  a  great  organization  such  as 
one  of  our  railroads.  The  engineer,  the  fireman,  the 
conductor,  the  brakeman,  the  mechanic,  the  section 
man — are  all  parts  of  one  great  whole,  just  as  much  a 
part  as  the  higher  officials;  and  they  have  come  by 

[34] 


IN  MEMORIAM 
SAMUEL  SPENCER 


common  consent  to  have  a  tenure  of  place  quite  as 
secure,  and  a  full  right  to  fair  return  for  honest  labor. 
Yonder  statue  is  erected  by  the  employees  of  the  South- 
em  Railway.  This  lays  emphasis  upon  two  facts — one 
that  the  employees  of  the  Southern  Railway  feel  con- 
fident that  Samuel  Spencer  recognized  that  he  was  at 
last  only  one  of  them ;  the  other  fact  is  that  we  are  all 
bound  together  in  a  strong  but  sacred  fellowship  when 
that  fellowship  is  one  of  respect  and  honor  to  our  be- 
loved dead. 

This  place  was  chosen  for  the  erection  of  this 
monument  not  only  because  it  was  within  the  native 
state  of  Samuel  Spencer  and  midway  of  the  line  of  the 
Southern  Railway  but  also  because  this  site  for  a  sta- 
tion was  chosen  at  his  instance  and  this  building  erect- 
ed according  to  his  plan. 

Here  we  may  imagine  him  through  the  years, 
calmly  seated  while  before  him  passes  the  whole 
drama  of  human  life.  For  this  shall  be  a  place  of  joy 
and  of  sorrow,  of  laughter  and  of  tears,  of  hope  and 
disappointment,  of  meeting  and  of  parting,  of  hearts 
made  glad  in  coming  home,  and  again  made  sick  by 
leaving  all  that  makes  life  dear.  Here  will  come  the 
bridegroom  and  the  bride,  circled  by  a  happy  throng ; 
and  here  again  will  walk  alone  the  figure  clothed  in 
black  behind  the  truck  which  bears  all  that  remains  of 
of  what  was  once  strong  and  loving  support.    Every- 

[35] 


IN  MEMORIAM 
SAMUEL  SPENCER 


thing  that  makes  life  dear ;  everything  that  makes  life 
a  burden;  success,  anticipated  or  achieved;  failure, 
foreshadowed  or  pronounced,  will  be  represented  in 
the  multitude  that  passes  by  this  silent  figure. 

But  if  here  there  are  eyes  which  see  not,  and  ears 
which  hear  not,  we  revert  to  the  question  I  asked  at 
first :  Is  the  life  of  the  dead  in  the  memory  of  the  liv- 
ing and  nothing  more  ? 

May  I  relate  to  you  a  simple  incident  which 
brought  before  me  this  question  in  a  way  that  has 
never  faded  from  my  memory  ?  Some  years  ago  I  was 
at  a  railroad  station  in  Pana,  Illinois,  waiting  for  a 
train.  A  newsboy  sold  me  a  local  paper.  In  glanc- 
ing through  it  I  came  across  a  telegram  which  told  of 
the  sudden  death  of  one  with  whom  I  had  a  lifelong 
friendship.  Walking  along  with  the  thought  of  my 
friend  filling  my  mind,  I  came  to  the  edge  of  the  plat- 
form. It  was  a  beautiful  afternoon — the  sun  almost 
at  its  setting  and  the  heavens  full  of  light,  clear  and 
soft.  Below  there  was  the  throbbing  of  a  stationary 
engine,  the  steam  rising  like  a  pure  white  cloud  in  the 
still  air.  Beyond  was  a  high  platform  and  on  it  ap- 
peared, from  moment  to  moment,  dark  figures,  each 
with  a  small  twinkling  light.  The  figures  were  miners 
coming  out  of  the  mine  after  the  day's  toil,  and  the 
lights  were  the  little  lamps  carried  in  their  caps.  As 
each  came  within  the  circle  and  the  influence  of  the 

[36] 


IN  MEMORIAM 
SAMUEL  SPENCER 


day  he  at  once  took  off  his  cap  and  blew  out  the  little 
lamp.  It  seemed  to  me  that  there  was  something 
typical  in  this.  Down  there  in  the  dark  and  narrow 
mine  the  miner  had  this  little  lamp,  which  lighted  only 
a  narrow  circle.  Coming  into  the  day,  as  his  eye  took 
in  at  a  glance  the  wide  horizon,  he  was  in  the  midst 
of  and  bathed  in  an  ocean  of  light. 

If  by  death  light  and  immortality  are  indeed 
brought  to  life  how  must  the  lamp  by  which  our  steps 
have  been  guided  while  on  this  earth  seem  dim  and 
insignificant  in  comparison  with  the  glory  of  that 
supernal  effulgence  into  which  we  shall  be  ushered 
when  once  we  have  passed  the  dark  portal  of  the 
grave! 

And  so,  in  conclusion,  may  we  not  say  of  him  as 
was  said  of  a  great  king,  that,  '*  having  served  his  gen- 
eration, he  fell  on  sleep  and  was  gathered  to  his  fathers." 

At  the  conclusion  of  Judge  Humphrey's  address, 
the  monument  was  unveiled  by  Miss  Violet  Spencer, 
daughter  of  Mr.  Henry  B.  Spencer,  and  grand-daughter 
of  the  late  Samuel  Spencer. 

After  appropriate  music  by  the  band  of  the  Fifth 
Regiment  of  the  Georgia  National  Guard  the  presid- 
ing officer,  Mr.  J.  S.  B.  Thompson,  introduced  Mr.  W. 
W.  Finley,  President  of  the  Southern  Railway  Comp- 
any, saying: 

[37] 


IN  MEMORIAM 
SAMUEL  SPENCER 


"  Ladies  and  Gentlemen : 

"  In  this  age  of  great  undertakings,  that  close 
personal  contact  between  man  and  man  which  charac- 
terized the  smaller  enterprises  of  former  times  is  impossi- 
ble. Especially  is  this  true  of  a  great  railway  system 
with  its  employees  distributed  over  thousands  of  miles 
of  line.  The  directing  head  of  such  an  institution  can 
come  into  personal  relations  with  but  relatively  a  very 
few  of  his  co-workers.  Many  of  them  may  never  even 
see  him.  That,  under  such  circumstances,  Samuel 
Spencer  should  have  so  administered  the  affairs  of 
the  Southern  Railway  Company  as  to  inspire  in  the 
vast  army  of  employees  who  worked  under  his  direction 
the  high  respect  and  the  personal  esteem  of  which 
this  beautiful  monument  is  the  visible  expression 
marks  him  as  no  ordinary  man.  No  higher  tribute 
could  be  paid  to  his  character  than  this  evidence  in 
lasting  bronze  and  marble  that  his  death  was  felt  as  a 
personal  loss  by  thousands  of  employees  throughout 
every  branch  of  the  service. 

"  This  monument  is  the  result  of  a  movement 
that  had  its  inception  in  the  ranks  of  the  employees  of 
the  Southern  Railway  system  and  it  was  strictly  their 
affair  from  its  inception  to  its  successful  completion. 
The  officers  of  the  Company  bore  the  same  relation 
to  it  as  the  men  in  the  ranks.  They  were  given  an 
opportunity  to  contribute  on  the  basis  of  the  plan 

[  38  ] 


IN  MEMORIAM 
SAMUEL  SPENCER 


adopted  by  the  General  Committee.     Friends  and  ad- 
mirers of  Mr.  Spencer  outside  our  ranks  asked  for 
the  privilege  of  making  contributions  but  their  cissist- 
ance  was  declined  with  thanks.    This  was  exclusively 
a  family  affair  of  the  employees  of  our  Company  from 
which  all  outsiders  were  excluded.    When  sufficient 
contributions  were  assured  the  Committee  selected 
Mr.  Daniel  Chester  French,  one  of  the  foremost  sculp- 
tors of  the  United  States,  to  execute  the  statue  of  Mr. 
Spencer,  and  Mr.  Henry  Bacon,  an  architect  of  high 
reputation,  to  design  the  base.    The  wisdom  of  their 
selection  is  evidenced  by  the  splendid  work  of  art  before 
us;  and  in  this  connection  I  know  that  I  voice  the 
sentiments  of  all  my  fellow  employees  when,  on  their 
behalf,   I  thank  most  heartily  the  members  of  our 
General  Committee  and  especially  their  energetic  and 
efficient  Chairman,  Mr.  J.  W.  Connelly,  for  the  capable 
way  in  which  they  have  carried  out  the  wishes  of  the 
many  thousands  of  contributors  to  the  monument 
fund. 

"  When  the  selection  of  a  man  to  present  the 
monument  to  the  keeping  of  the  State  of  Georgia  and 
the  City  of  Atlanta  was  taken  up  it  was  the  unanimous 
opinion  of  the  employees,  speaking  through  the  repre- 
sentatives of  all  departments  on  the  General  Committee, 
that  the  man  who  could  most  properly  speak  for  the 
entire  body  of  Southern  Railway  workers  was  he  who 

[39] 


IN  MEMORIAM 
SAMUEL  SPENCER 


was  one  of  Mr.  Spencer's  trusted  lieutenants.  Their 
unanimous  request,  voiced  through  their  Committee, 
was  presented  to  him  and  he  gladly  consented  to  per- 
form this  service. 

"  I  have  the  honor  to  introduce  Mr.  W.  W.  Finley." 
Mr.  Finley,  acting  at  the  request  of  the  whole 
body  of  employees,  expressed  through  their  General 
Committee,  and  on  their  behalf,  presented  the  mon- 
ument to  the  State  of  Georgia  and  the  City  of  Atlanta 
in  the  following  address : 

"Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 
"  I  appreciate  most  highly  being  selected  by  my  fel- 
low employees  as  their  representative  to  present  to  the 
State  of  Georgia  and  the  City  of  Atlanta  this  monu- 
ment to  Samuel  Spencer. 

"  There  have  been  monuments  erected  to  great 
military  chieftains  by  their  followers  in  war,  but  this  is 
one  of  the  few  instances  that  I  know  of  in  which  an 
industrial  army  has  thus  honored  its  leader.  This 
monument  testifies  not  only  to  the  high  esteem  in 
which  President  Spencer  was  held  by  his  associates 
but  also  to  the  loyalty  with  which  he  was  followed  by 
the  body  of  employees  which  he  had  organized  and 
which  his  genius  directed  in  the  building  up  and  oper- 
ation of  one  of  the  most  important  railway  systems  of 
the  South.  It  symbolizes  the  ideal  relations  between 
the  manager  of  a  railway  and  those  who  serve  under 

[40  J 


IN  MEMORIAM 
SAMUEL  SPENCER 


his  direction,  in  which  each  one,  in  his  particular 
sphere,  gives  to  the  property  the  best  service  of  which 
he  is  capable  and  co-operates  loyally  and  intelligently 
with  his  fellow  employees  to  secure  the  best  general 
results. 

"  The  management  of  the  Company  appreciates  at 
its  full  worth  the  spirit  of  co-operative  loyalty  that  per- 
vades our  organization  and  makes  it  one  that  any  man 
might  be  proud  to  lead.  It  is  an  organization  which, 
man  for  man,  I  do  not  believe  has  its  superior  on  any 
railway  in  the  United  States.  It  is  an  organization  in 
which  men  are  constantly  showing  high  capacity  and 
in  which  vacancies  occurring  in  the  service,  including 
the  more  responsible  posts,  are  being  filled  by  promo- 
tion from  the  ranks. 

**  To  all  of  us  in  the  service  of  the  Company  this 
statue  of  our  great  organizer  and  leader  will  be  a  con- 
stant inspiration  to  more  intense  loyalty  and  higher 
efficiency.  Standing  as  it  does  at  a  central  point  on 
our  system,  in  the  midst  of  the  busy  commercial  life  of 
the  South,  it  will  symbolize  for  us  the  identity  of  our 
interests  with  those  of  the  communities  traversed  by 
our  lines,  and  will  ever  remind  us  that  our  value  to  the 
Company  is  measured  by  the  efficiency  of  our  service 
to  the  public. 

"  It  is  fitting  that  this  monument  to  Samuel  Spen- 
cer should  have  been  erected  in  Atlanta— the  Capital 

[41] 


IN  MEMORJAM 
SAMUEL  SPENCER 


of  his  native  State  and  one  of  the  principal  cities  on 
the  Southern   Railway  system.    It  was  the  flag  of 
Georgia  that  he  followed  into  war,  and  throughout  his 
administration  of  the  Southern  Railway  Company  the 
transportation  needs  of  this  State  were  among  his 
chief  concerns.    It  is  fitting  that  his  statue  should  be 
placed  before  this  terminal  station,  which  is  the  result 
of  years  of  close  personal  study  by  him  of  the  problem 
of  providing  for  Atlanta  adequate  terminal  facilities. 
It  was  a  problem  to  the  solution  of  which  he  brought 
his  ripe  experience  and  great  knowledge.    It  was  he 
who  selected  the  location  and  determined  the  charac- 
ter of  the  building  with  a  view  to  providing  a  terminal 
that  would  afford  adequate  and  convenient  accom- 
modations and  that,  at  the  same  time,  would  be  an 
architectural   ornament  to  the  city.    This  passenger 
station  is  only  a  part  of  the  great  terminal  scheme 
which  Mr.  Spencer  had  planned  for  Atlanta  and  which 
involves  the  utilization  of  adjacent  property  for  the 
development  of  a  great  freight  terminal.    The  only 
things  that  have  prevented  the  carrying  out  of  this 
plan  in  its  entirety  have  been  the  later  development 
of  the  necessity  for  providing  facilities  for  increasing 
the  carrying  capacity  of  our  lines  and  the  business  de- 
pression which  made  it  necessary  for  the  Company  to 
postpone  this  and  other  projected  improvements.    It 
is  peculiarly  appropriate  that  I  should  be  able,  at  this 

[42] 


IN  MEMORIAM 
SAMUEL  SPENCER 


time,  to  announce  that  the  immediate  completion  of 
this  great  project  in  its  entirety,  so  dear  to  the  heart 
of  Mr.  Spencer,  has  been  authorized. 

"  Mr.  Spencer  was  essentially  an  organizer  and  a 
builder.  His  highest  ambition  was  the  development 
of  the  Southern  Railway  into  a  more  efficient  trans- 
portation system,  and  thus  making  it  a  still  more  im- 
portant factor  in  the  upbuilding  and  prosperity  of  the 
South.  It  was  to  this  problem  that  Mr.  Spencer  was 
constantly  devoting  the  best  energies  of  his  construc- 
tive mind,  and,  as  we,  his  successors,  carry  forward  the 
great  work  which  he  had  planned,  I  believe  that  the 
people  of  the  South  will  recognize,  even  more  fully 
than  they  do  to-day,  the  inestimable  value  to  our  en- 
tire section  of  the  crowning  work  of  his  life. 

"  Standing  before  this  terminal  station,  this  monu- 
ment will  be  seen  daily  by  thousands  of  the  citizens  of 
Georgia  and  the  other  Southern  States.  It  will  stand 
as  a  perpetual  inspiration  to  the  youth  of  Georgia  and 
of  the  South — portraying  a  Georgian  who,  by  patriot- 
ism, strict  integrity,  a  high  Christian  character,  and 
untiring  industry,  won  honor  and  success  in  life  and 
a  reputation  that  endures  after  death. 

"  And  so.  Governor  Brown  and  Mayor  Maddox,  on 
behalf  of  my  fellow  employees  of  the  Southern  Rail- 
way Company,  I  present  to  you,  as  representing  the 
State  of  Georgia  and  the  City  of  Atlanta,  this  monu- 

[43] 


IN  MEMORIAM 
SAMUEL  SPENCER 


ment  to  Samuel  Spencer — a  Georgian,  a  Confederate 
soldier,  and  the  first  President  of  the  Southern  Rail- 
way Company — in  full  confidence  that  it  will  be  cher- 
ished and  safeguarded,  not  merely  as  a  beautiful  work 
of  art,  but  as  a  memorial  of  one  of  Georgia's  most  dis- 
tinguished and  most  useful  sons." 

Hon.  Joseph  M.  Brown,  Governor  of  the  State  of 
Georgia,  in  accepting  the  monument  on  behalf  of  the 
State,  said : 

"  Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen : 
"  Honoring  the  devotion  of  the  tens  of  thousands 
of  employees  of  the  greatest  railway  system  of  the 
South  to  the  memory  of  their  President,  and  honoring 
the  brain-power,  the  indomitable  energy,  the  partiotism 
and  the  fidelity  to  trusts  placed  in  his  keeping,  in  the 
name  and  in  behalf  of  the  people  of  Georgia,  I  accept 
this  monument  to  one  of  Georgia's  greatest  sons — 
Samuel  Spencer." 

Hon.  Robert  F.  Maddox,  Mayor  of  the  City  of 
Atlanta,  in  accepting  the  monument  for  the  City  of 
Atlanta,  said : 

''  Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen : 
'*  From  the  beginning  of  historic  times,  we  have 
record  that  nations,  states,  cities  and  individuals  have 
exemplified  a  happy  custom  of  making  enduring  me- 
morials, in  some  fashion,  of  their  illustrious  dead. 

[44] 


1^^ 


A  Georgian" 

A  CONFEDERATE  SOLDIER. 
AND 
THE  FIRST  PRESIDLNT 
'      OF  THE 
'  SO.UTMERN  RAILWAY  COMP^^ 


tRiCTED  BY  THE  EMPLOYEES 
OF  THAT  COMPANY 


m  MEMORIAM 
SAMUEL  SPENCER 


"  It  is  unnecessary  in  the  presence  of  this  enlight- 
ened gathering,  to  dwell  at  length  upon  celebrated 
memorials  of  times  that  are  far  distant.  It  will 
suffice  here  to  recall  a  few  of  the  more  recent  and  most 
striking  instances  of  the  kind,  and  to  apply  them 
to  the  memory  of  the  man  whom  to-day  we  are  met 
here  to  honor. 

"Trafalgar  Square  in  London  is  a  noble  testimonial 
of  England's  pride  in  her  brave  sailors,  and  upon  the 
tall  shaft  which  ornaments  its  center,  stands  the  figure 
of  that  country's  greatest  admiral,  Horatio  Nelson. 

"  No  one  who  has  ever  visited  Paris,  fails  to  search 
first  for  the  great  white  marble  sepulcher  with  the 

golden  dome  which  keeps  the  dust  of  Napoleon  Bona- 
parte. 

**  Our  own  Capital  city  of  Washington,  one  of  the 
most  beautiful  cities  of  the  earth,  is  made  doubly  at- 
tractive by  the  monuments  and  squares  and  circles 
which  commemorate  the  valiant  deeds  of  Washington, 
of  Jackson,  of  Lafayette,  of  Kosciusko,  and  of  others 
whose  names  are  chiseled  on  Fame's  everlasting  tablet. 
The  unique  city  of  Richmond,  Va.,  ever  redolent  with 
the  tender  memories  of  the  Lost  Cause,  has  adorned 
herself  with  immortal  bronzes  and  marbles  commem- 
orative of  Robert  E.  Lee,  Jefferson  Davis,  Stonewall 
Jackson,  Jeb  Stuart,  and  others  who  have  shed  im- 
perishable luster  on  American  valor. 


IN  MEMORIAM 
SAMUEL  SPENCER 


"  In  the  National  Hall  of  Fame  in  Washington, 
Georgia  has  shown  her  appreciation  of  statesmanship 
by  voting  the  first  place  to  Alexander  H.  Stephens, 
who,  throughout  a  life  of  physical  suffering  and  constant 
bodily  infirmity,  maintained  a  mind  so  clear  and  a 
logic  so  relentless  as  to  place  him  forever  among  the 
foremost  statesmen  of  America. 

"  By  the  side  of  Mr.  Stephens,  Georgia  voted  its 
second  place  in  the  home  of  the  immortals,  to  Dr. 
Crawford  W.  Long,  who  made  the  revolutionary  dis- 
covery of  anaesthesia  or  of  making  surgical  operations 
painless. 

"In  the  City  of  Atlanta  there  now  stand  three  mon- 
uments to  distinguished  men,  erected  by  their  fellow- 
Georgians.  The  first  is  that  snow-white  figure  of  the 
illustrious  Ben  Hill,  which  bears  silent  testimony  to 
the  life  he  lived  and  the  record  he  made  while  repre- 
senting his  State  and  section  in  the  Halls  of  Congress. 
The  next  is  that  splendid  figure  in  bronze  of  Henry 
Grady,  "  who  died  literally  loving  a  nation  into  peace," 
which  was  erected  by  his  friends  and  admirers  in  ap- 
preciation of  the  good  work  he  had  accomplished  in 
bringing  about  cordial  relations  between  all  sections 
of  our  common  country,  and  for  the  cheerful  and  wise 
editorials  written  to  an  appreciative  world.  The  last 
monument  was  erected  to  that  brave  hero  in  gray, 
General  Gordon,  whose  gallant  service  as  a  soldier  of 

[46] 


IN  MEMORIAM 
SAMUEL  SPENCER 


the  Confederacy,  was  enough  to  endear  our  people  to 
his  name  and  memory. 

'*  These  three  Georgian  heroes  played  an  impor- 
tant part  in  the  history  of  their  times — the  one  a  gal- 
lant soldier,  another  a  splendid  statesman,  the  other  a 
journalist  and  philanthropist  of  the  highest  and  best 
type.  But  it  remains  for  this  day  and  hour  to  have 
unveiled  in  this,  the  Gate  City  of  the  South,  a  monu- 
ment to  another  famous  Georgian,  but  not  especially 
for  his  service  as  a  soldier,  not  for  his  work  as  a  journal- 
ist, nor  his  statesmanship,  but  for  his  gentlemenly 
character,  his  ability  as  a  captain  of  industry,  and  for 
his  universal  kindness  to  the  thousands  of  men  employ- 
ed by  the  Company  of  which  he  was  the  official  head, 
this  monument  is  to-day  unveiled  in  the  heart  of  a  sec- 
tion for  which  he  labored  so  long  and  loved  so  well. 

"  He  had  seen  the  South  in  ashes,  her  manufactur- 
ing plants  destroyed,  her  farms  a  wretched  wilderness 
of  weeds,  and  her  people  defeated  but  still  undaunted, 
after  a  long  and  terrible  war.  But  from  out  the  gloom 
and  desolation  of  that  hour,  he  caught  the  vision  of 
the  dawning  of  a  better  day,  for  he  knew  that  the  cour- 
age and  spirit  of  the  people  which  followed  the  Stars 
and  Bars  for  four  long  years,  would  not  rest  in  idle 
mourning,  but  would  in  God's  own  time,  rebuild  a 
greater  South,  to  the  glory  of  this  section  and  to  the 
credit  of  the  nation. 

[47] 


IN  MEMORIAM 
SAMUEL  SPENCES 


"He  knew  that  an  Omniscient  Hand  had  given  us  a 
soil  and  climate  the  equal  of  any  on  earth.  He  knew 
that  the  rivers  and  harbors  of  the  South  would  again 
send  our  products  to  all  the  world.  He  knew  that 
our  people  were  honest  and  industrious  and  would 
again  create  credit  and  capital  out  of  the  shaken  but 
not  shattered  Southland.  It  was,  therefore,  indeed 
fortunate  that,  during  the  years  of  such  rebuilding,  the 
South  had  such  a  messenger  as  Samuel  Spencer  to 
go  with  his  optimistic  heart  and  courageous  hand  to 
the  strong  financial  interests  in  the  East  and  lay  be- 
fore them  the  possibilities  of  the  New  South  and  secure 
their  co-operation  in  its  commercial  reconstruction. 
He  told  them  that  the  God-given  supremacy  of  the 
southern  planter  to  raise  the  cotton  crop  of  the  world, 
would  not  be  neglected,  but  that  in  a  short  time  it 
would  require  many  more  miles  of  transportation  facili- 
ties to  market  this  great  crop.  He  told  them  that  it 
was  at  the  door  of  the  plantation  that  the  cotton  mill 
of  the  future  would  be  built.  He  explained  to  the  people 
of  the  North  that  the  furnaces  of  Alabama  and  the 
forests  of  Georgia  and  the  mines  of  Tennessee  would 
not  be  left  sleeping  in  idleness,  but  would  soon  ring 
with  the  music  of  commercial  progress  and  prosperity. 
He  prophesied  that  the  villages  of  this  section  would 
grow  into  great  cities  and  that  the  cities  would  in 
time  become  great  manufacturing  centers  of  trade  and 

[48] 


IN  MEMORIAM 
SAMUEL  SPENCr::^ 


traffic,  and,  with  the  wisdom  of  but  few  men  of  the 
South,  he  went  about  to  do  all  in  his  power  to  bring 
about  the  reality  of  this  dream,  and,  thank  God,  he 
lived  to  see  it  come  true. 

"  Mr.  Spencer  was  a  native  Georgian.  He  was 
born  in  Columbus.  He  was  fourteen  years  of  age  when 
the  great  war  broke  out,  and  had  reached  but  eighteen 
when  General  Lee  laid  down  his  stainless  sword  at  Ap- 
pamatox.  Yet,  in  spite  of  his  youth,  he  gave  two  years 
of  hard  service  to  the  Confederate  Army.  While  his 
great  heart  swelled  with  pride  at  the  complete  reunion 
of  his  once  disunited  country — a  reunion  in  which  he 
himself  was  one  of  the  principal  factors — he  still  was 
proud  of  the  fact  that  he  was  a  Confederate  soldier, 
and  these  words,  so  simple,  yet  which  speak  so  much, 
are  cut  into  the  marble  base  of  this  monument  where 
they  may  be  seen  until  the  statue  crumbles  into  dust. 

"  After  the  war  Mr.  Spencer  entered  the  University 
of  Georgia,  and  was  graduated  from  that  institution  in 
in  the  class  of  1867  with  the  first  honor.  Continuing 
his  studies  at  the  University  of  Virginia,  he  there  took 
the  degree  of  Civil  Engineer  in  the  class  of  1869. 

"  Soon  afterward  he  married  Miss  Louisa  Benning, 
daughter  of  General  Henry  L.  Benning,  veteran  of  the 
Mexican  and  Civil  Wars,  and  later  a  distinguished 
member  of  the  Georgia  Supreme  Court. 


IN  MliMORIAM 
SAMUEL  SPENCER 


"Mr.  and  Mrs.  Spencer  literally  started  life  together, 
and  the  noble  woman  sitting  to-day  upon  this  platform 
shared  all  her  husband's  early  trials,  encouraged  him 
at  every  moment  of  his  career,  and  finally  tasted  with 
him  the  sweets  of  deserved  success. 

"  Mr.  Spencer  commenced  his  railroad  work  as  a 
rodman.  From  one  position  to  another  he  steadily 
advanced,  always  as  a  result  of  his  own  work.  He 
never  got  a  promotion  on  account  of  "  pull "  or  out- 
side influence,  but  every  advance  was  won  by  him  from 
his  superiors  as  the  result  of  his  personal  fitness  for  the 
place. 

"  In  a  recent  conversation  with  one  of  his  close 
friends  and  business  associates,  Mr.  S.  M.  Inman,  him- 
self universally  and  properly  known  as  the  first  citizen 
of  Atlanta,  Mr.  Inman  said  to  me :  '  Mr.  Spencer's  en- 
thusiasm for  the  upbuilding  of  the  South  amounted  to 
a  pzission.  Day  and  night  he  worked  for  the  pro- 
motion of  his  native  section  by  improving  the  farming 
and  transportation  facilities  and  stimulating  the  build- 
ing and  development  of  mining  and  manufacturing 
plants.  During  the  last  seven  years  of  his  adminis- 
tration, there  were  located  along  the  line  of  the 
Southern  Railway,  nearly  5,000  new  manufacturing 
and  mining  industries,  or  an  average  of  one  industry 
to  every  one  and  one-half  miles  of  the  system  proper. 
Of  this  number,  300  were  textile  miles.    At  one  stretch 

[50] 


IN  MEMORIAM 
SAMUEL  SPENCER 


of  300  miles,  from  Danville,  Va.,  South,  it  is  said  there 
is  an  average  of  one  cotton  mill  for  every  mile  of  the 
road.' 

**  One  of  Mr.  Spencer's  most  striking  traits  was 
his  kindness  of  heart,  and  no  higher  tribute  to  his 
make-up  can  be  paid  here  to-day  than  the  following 
excerpt  from  a  letter  of  Mr.  J.  W.  Connelly,  of  date 
January  1st,  1907,  which  Mr.  Connelly,  as  Chairman 
of  the  Committee  which  built  this  monument,  address- 
ed to  the  employees  of  the  Southern  Railway,  in  which 
he  said :  *  Mr.  Spencer's  kindness  of  heart  ever  led 
him  to  treat  with  the  same  consideration  his  humblest 
employee  and  his  highest  officer.' 

"Mr.  Spencer  was  one  of  the  most  accurate  of  men. 
In  the  study  of  any  subject  which  interested  him, 
whether  historical,  esthetic,  or  business,  he  went  to 
the  bottom,  and  when  he  spoke,  it  was  "  ex-cathedra." 
He  was  distinguished  for  a  justness  of  mental  vision 
and  decision  rarely  possessed  by  men  concerned  with 
such  a  diversity  of  large  questions.  He  was  one  of  those 
men  who  sought  to  find  the  just  path,  and  having 
found  it,  he  walked  straight  forward.  There  were 
times  when  he  lamented  to  his  nearest  friends  about 
the  bitter  attacks  against  some  of  his  railroad  policies, 
but  he  always  said  that  the  time  would  come  when  the 
Southern  people  would  understand  him. 

"The  splendid  line  of  railroads,  amounting  to  nearly 

[51] 


IN  MEMORIAM 
SAMUEL  SPENCER 


10,000  miles,  which  he  reunited  and  constructed,  now 
operating  successfully  through  the  southeastern  part 
of  our  country,  with  its  chief  business,  if  not  its  home 
office,  in  Atlanta,  which,  as  a  compliment  to  this  sec- 
tion, he  called  the  Southern  Railway  Company,  to- 
gether with  the  growth  of  that  other  splendid  Company 
which  another  fellow-Georgian  organized  and  called 
the  Southern  Express  Company,  I  believe  are  two  of 
the  best  illustrations  to  be  found  of  the  rapid  develop- 
ment of  the  New  South,  and  I  think  these  two  Com- 
panies, carrying  daily  the  very  name  "  Southern  "  into 
the  heart  of  the  East  and  West,  have  done  much  to 
encourage  friendly  relationships,  easy  commercial  inter- 
course, and  profitable  business  between  these  three 
great  sections  of  our  common  country. 

**  The  South  in  her  splendid  struggle  during  the 
past  forty  years,  has  had  but  little  time  seriously  to  con- 
template the  means  and  men  through  which  our  vic- 
tory has  been  won,  but,  now  that  we  have  passed 
through  the  days  of  doubt  and  danger,  we  may  well 
pause  and  think  over  the  reasons  for  the  marvellous 
progress  we  have  made,  and  measure  without  partiality 
the  men  who  have  led  us  in  our  matchless  march  from 
poverty  to  prosperity,  and  it  is  especially  fortunate 
that,  while  heretofore  in  Atlanta  we  have  erected  mon- 
uments to  those  whose  splendid  services,  cis  a  soldier, 
statesman  and  journalist,  have  been  appreciated  by  a 

L52] 


IN  MEMORUM 
SAMUEL   SI'ENCEK 


grateful  people,  we  can  to-day  unveil  another  monu- 
ment which  is  to  be  a  fitting  tribute  to  a  plain  business 
man  who  ever  had  the  interests  of  this  section  at  heart, 
and,  through  his  influence  with  his  associates  in  the 
North,  did  perhaps  more  than  any  other  man  in  com- 
mercially rebuilding  this  section. 

**  It  is  well  that  this  and  future  generations  should 
know  that  a  man  by  honest  endeavor  can  operate  a 
commercial  enterprise  to  the  credit  of  himself  and  for 
the  benefit  of  his  fellow-men.  This  should  be  an  en- 
couragement at  a  time  when  the  press  of  the  country 
and  the  people  generally  are  too  apt  to  think  and  say 
unjust  things  of  all  men  engaged  in  the  large  commer- 
cial enterprises. 

"Atlanta  is  known  as  the '  Gate  City  of  the  South,* 
and  is  proud  of  the  twelve  lines  of  railroad  radiating 
from  here  to  every  point  of  the  compass,  and  I  take  this 
occasion  to  say  that  the  construction  and  operation  of 
the  railroads  entering  Atlanta  have  done  much  to  make 
this  City  what  it  is  to-day,  and  we  wish  for  each  and 
every  one  of  them,  success. 

"We  are  especially  grateful  that  the  30,000  friends 
of  Mr.  Spencer  among  the  employees  of  the  South- 
ern Railway,  selected  Atlanta  as  the  point  where  this 
splendid  monument  will  stand. 

"  Now,  Mr.  Chairman,  as  Mayor  of  this  City,  and 
speaking  for  all  of  our  citizens,  I  accept  this  monu- 

[63] 


IN  MEMORIAM 
SAMUEL  SPENCER 


ment  to  the  late  Samuel  Spencer,  and  assure  the 
donors,  each  and  all,  that  Atlanta  will  always  be  proud 
of  it,  and  we  hope  that  the  city  will  prove  ever  worthy 
of  their  choice.  Its  location  in  the  heart  of  the  South, 
in  the  Capital  City  of  the  State  in  which  he  was  born, 
facing  the  splendid  terminal  station  which  he  build- 
ed,  is  ideal. 

"  I  trust  it  will  sit  upon  this  beautiful  plaza  for  in- 
definite years  to  inspire  every  young  Georgian  who 
sees  it  to  achieve  something  for  himself  and  his  fellow- 
men.  I  sincerely  hope  that  this  city,  this  section,  and 
the  road  which  Mr.  Spencer  served  so  well,  may  con- 
tinue to  grow  in  influence  and  in  strength,  to  the  glory 
of  God  and  the  nation." 

Rev.  John  E.  White,  D.  D.,  Pastor  of  the  Second 
Baptist  Church  of  Atlanta,  pronounced  the  following 
benediction : 

''Almighty  God,  our  Heavenly  Father,  in  whom 
we  move  and  have  our  being,  from  whose  hand  we 
receive  all  life  and  opportunity,  we  seek  Thy  gracious 
benediction  upon  this  occasion.  We  thank  Thee  for 
the  great  Southerner  and  good  man  whose  large  work 
for  his  people  and  whose  noble  qualities  we  have  hon- 
ored to-day.  May  his  career  be  an  inspiration  to  those 
who  are  left  to  carry  forward  the  progress  he  dreamed 
and  planned  for  our  people.  Bless,  we  entreat  Thee, 
the  thousands  of  employees  who  have  so  lovingly  con- 

[54] 


IN  MKMOKIAM 
SAMtKL   SPENCER 


tributed  to  this  worthy  memorial.  Grant  grace,  mercy 
and  peace  to  the  family  and  children's  children  who 
witness  to-day  the  testimonial  of  honor  we  have  ded- 
icated to  their  beloved  dead.  Send  us  forth  from  this 
place  in  Thy  favor  and  guard  us  from  all  evil  into  the 
paths  of  righteousness  and  peace.  And  this  we  ask 
through  Jesus  Christ,  our  Lord,   Amen." 


[55] 


^D  05897 


/ 


